It is known to include trim bezels in the interiors of vehicles of all types. Decorative trim bezels are often desired by the styling designer to compliment a particular surface, to highlight a feature, or to differentiate vehicle series. Trim bezel designs with multiple surface finishes have become increasingly popular in vehicle design studios. For example, it is common in vehicle interiors to find a single trim bezel comprising two or more connected parts with one of the parts having a high gloss surface (such as a high gloss piano black surface) or low-gloss textured surface adjacent to a thin, chrome-plated ring surrounding the periphery.
An example of such a known two-piece trim bezel is illustrated in FIG. 1 which illustrates a trim bezel, generally illustrated as 10, which includes a first part 12 having a high gloss finish or a textured low gloss finish and a second part 14 having a chrome-plated finish. The first part 12 is produced conventionally by injection molding with its black high gloss finish ordinarily being the result of a base color coat and a layer of clear coat. The first part 12 and the second part 14 are thus separate parts, as illustrated in FIG. 2, which are then snap-fitted or heat staked together to form a single component for installation into the interior of the vehicle.
While providing a satisfactory trim bezel, the known two-piece approach suffers from several drawbacks. One of them is the high cost resulting from multiple pieces and the necessary labor to attach the two parts together. Another problem is inherent with two closely positioned pieces which inherently has the high risk of squeaking or rattling when the vehicle is in motion, particularly over time as the vehicle age advances. An additional problem of known two-piece assemblies is the potential for a poor surface appearance caused by any of several painting defects, including orange peel, sag, paint spits, and the like. Still a further problem inherent in known manufacturing processes of two-piece bezels is the negative environmental impact generated by VOC of painting as is well known.
As an alternative to the two-piece approach, it is known to injection mold a single piece followed by masking of the area to be plated. The masked part is then painted with a coating-resistant paint applied to the area not requiring chrome plating. The piece is then electroplated with the chrome plate adhering to the non-painted areas. Once electrocoated, the part is then cleaned, masked and painted again, this time with a high gloss finish coat, such as common piano black. While having certain desirable aspects, this approach requires a long supply chain and suffers from labor-intensive steps including repeated masking and painting processes and the difficult-to-avoid result of having a rough-cut line between the chrome finish and the high gloss finish due to limitations of the chrome coating-resistant paint.
Accordingly, for both known methods discussed above in which the two-piece component or the single-piece component is masked, painted, plated and painted again, both inconsistent and poor quality and high labor and production costs are known problems.
As in so many areas of vehicle technology, there is room for improvement in the manufacture of vehicle decorative trim bezels. Such improvements ideally include labor cost and component cost reductions with an associated improvement in trim bezel quality.